E.J. Dionne | San Antonio mayor Julian Castro in a 'relay, not a marathon

2:58 AM,
Mar. 27, 2013

Written by

E.J. Dionne Jr.

SAN ANTONIO -- Julian Castro is a politician in not too much of a hurry. This does not mean he lacks ambition.

The 38-year-old mayor of San Antonio, which has boomed into the country's seventh-largest city, came to national attention much as Barack Obama did, with a first-rate keynote speech at last year's Democratic National Convention. He spoke affectingly of life being not a marathon but a "relay" in which each generation lifts up the next.

His metaphor didn't have the instant punch of Obama's 2004 red-and-blue America oration, but it does have staying power, just fine for a man playing the ...